[Footnote 295: Â_s_v. G_ri_hya-sûtras I. 3, 10.] [Footnote 296: Manu III. 117-118.] [Footnote 297: L. c. III. 85.] [Footnote 298: See Des Coulanges, "Ancient City," I. 3. "Especially were the meals of the family religions acts. The god [the sacred fire] presided there. He had cooked the bread and prepared the food; a prayer, therefore, was due at the beginning and end of the repast. Before eating, they placed upon the altar the first fruits of the food; before drinking, they poured out a libation of wine. This was the god's portion. No one doubted that he was present, that he ate and drank; for did they not see the flame increase as if it had been nourished by the provisions offered? Thus the meal was divided between the man and the god. It was a sacred ceremony, by which they held communion with each other.... The religion of the sacred fire dates from the distant and dim epoch when there were yet no Greeks, no Italians, no Hindus, when there were only Aryas. When the tribes separated they carried this worship with them, some to the banks of the Ganges, others to the shores of the Mediterranean.... Each group chose its own gods, but all preserved as an ancient legacy the first religion which they had known and practiced in the common cradle of their race." The fire in the house denoted the ancestor, or pit_ri_, and in turn the serpent was revered as a living fire, and so an appropriate symbol of the First Father.--A. W.] [Footnote 299: "Taittirîyâra_n_yaka," Preface, p. 23.] [Footnote 300: Mâsi mâsi vo 'sanam iti _s_rute_h_; Gobhilîya G_ri_hya sûtras, p. 1055.] [Footnote 301: See "Pi_nd_apit_ri_ya_gñ_a," von Dr. O. Donner, 1870. The restriction to three ancestors, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, occurs in the Vâ_g_asaneyi-sa_m_hitâ, XIX. 36-37.] [Footnote 302: There is, however, great variety in these matters, according to different _s_âkhâs. Thus, according to the Gobhila-_s_âkhâ, the Pi_nd_a Pit_ri_ya_gñ_a is to be considered as smârta, not as _s_rauta (pi_nd_a-pit_ri_ya_gñ_ah khalv asma_kkh_âkhâyâ_m_ nâsti); while others maintain that an agnimat should perform the smârta, a _s_rautâgnimat the _s_rauta Pit_ri_ya_gñ_a; see Gobhilîya G_ri_hya-sûtras, p. 671. On page 667 we read: anagner amâvasyâ_s_raddhâ, nânvâhâryam ity âdara_n_iyam.] [Footnote 303: "Über Todtenbestattung und Opfergebräuche im Veda," in "Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft," vol. ix. 1856.] [Footnote 304: A_s_valâyana G_ri_hya-sûtras IV. 4, 10.] [Footnote 305: Manu V. 64-65.] [Footnote 306: Bühler, Âpastamba, "Sacred Books of the East," vol. ii., p. 138; also "_S_râddhâkalpa," p. 890. Though the _S_râddha is prescribed in the "Gobhilîya G_ri_hya-sûtras," IV. 4, 2-3, it is not described there, but in a separate treatise, the _S_râddha-kalpa.]